from Mark Madden of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

When the NHL left NBC to do rights deals with ESPN and TNT, it seemed good.

The season’s first week featured a Tuesday night doubleheader on ESPN and a Wednesday night doubleheader on TNT. The presentation, production and announcing were all sharp. There was lots of fanfare.

But ESPN hasn’t televised a game since Oct. 26 and won’t till Jan. 6.

TNT has had nothing but 10 p.m. games since Oct. 20. That doesn’t change till Jan. 5. (Hockey is being pre-empted for pro wrestling.)

TNT will televise a total of 50 regular-season games. ESPN and ABC will broadcast 28 between them.

Between NBC and the NBC Sports Network, 101 regular-season games aired last season. That campaign was shortened to 56 games per team by covid and didn’t start till Jan. 13.

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